The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 10, 2000 Page: 5 of 28
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THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10,2000
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Students urged to boycott produce supplier
by Meredith Jenkins
THHF.SHER STAFF
KUAN* KNIGHT/THRESHER
President and CEO of AMD Hector Ruiz spoke about the importance of
maintaining family values, encouraging education and embracing technology.
His lecture was sponsored by three Hispanic student groups at Rice.
CEO addresses importance
of self-esteem, education
by Matt Cuddihy
THRF.SHER STAFF
Stronger family values, better
education, and greater use of tech-
nological advances are all keys to
building better lives for many disad-
vantaged Hispanics, the CEO and
president of AMD Corporation said.
Hector Ruiz, who received his
doctorate in electrical engineering
from Rice in 1972, spoke in
McMurtry Auditorium in Duncan
Hall Wednesday afternoon.
Before Ruiz's appointment as
CEO of Advanced Microdevices,
one of the largest manufacturers of
computer microprocessors, Ruiz
worked for 22 years at Motorola
and for five years at Texas Instru-
ments. He earned his undergradu-
ate and masters degrees in electri-
cal engineering from the Univer-
sity of Texas, and got his Ph.D. at
Rice.
President Malcolm Gillis, who
introduced Ruiz, said, "He's taken a
strong, professional leadership role
by giving back to his community."
The only way society
will get better is if the
next generation is
better than the one
before.'
— Hector Ruiz
CEO and President of AMD
In Ruiz's speech, entitled "Self
Worth," he told the story of his own
education. He grew up in the Mexi-
can border town of Piedras Negras,
the son of poor parents. He said he
played in a rock-and-roll band and
considered becoming an auto me-
chanic, but never in his wildest
dreams did he imagine becoming
the CEO of a multi-billion dollar cor-
poration.
Ruiz credits a local missionary
with initiating his road to success.
After Ruiz learned English at 15,
the missionary convinced him that
he should attend high school at
Eagle Pass. Ruiz described how his
mother worked nights to give him
this chance, and he said she never
let him go to school without wear-
ing a clean, ironed shirt, even
though it stretched the family's re-
sources.
Ruiz said at this point in his life,
his father gave him a great piece of
advice.
The only way society will get
better is if the next generation is
better than the one before," Ruiz
said.
He said his family made his suc-
cess possible by giving him a strong
feeling of self-worth. By the time he
and his wife started a family, in his
mid-twenties, Ruiz said he became
determined to make the next gen-
eration of people, especially Hispan-
ics, better than the one before it. To
do so, he said that self-esteem was
critical.
"Self worth is the single most
important building block to being
able to have a chance at doing better
than the generation before," said
Ruiz.
Ruiz said that the family as an
entity is especially important to His-
panics, but that it is being destroyed.
He emphasized that in order to re-
capture the value of self worth it is
vital to strengthen family values.
Ruiz said that the second most
important building block in creating
better futures for Hispanics is edu-
cation. Quoting the now-famous slo-
gan of the U.S. Army, Ruiz said edu-
cation allows one to "be all that he
can be," and that, more than just a
degree, education is preparation for
life.
He noted that he used to be bi-
ased toward encouraging youths to
study science, math, and engineer-
ing, until one day a budding artist
asked him, "Don't 1 count?" Since
then, Ruiz has said that education
"must fit the self-worth of the indi-
vidual."
While education reform pro-
grams are in the works, they are not
projected to come into place until
about 2025, and by that time, Ruiz
said, Texas could be a second-class
state.
Ruiz further added that some
people work hard so they can attend
commu nity colleges, but are blocked
from further advancement because
of difficulty transferring to major
universities. He said the "elitism" of
these schools destroys self-worth.
Ruiz said that the third major
component in bettering the lives of
the underprivileged is the techno-
logical and informational revolution
currently taking place.
'The pace of change of technol-
ogy today is phenomenal," he said.
"We have a responsibility to put it to
use to close the social divide. 1 think
we can do it much faster."
The event, which was followed
by a reception complete with a
Mariachi band, was sponsored by
three Rice Hispanic clubs, Hispanic
Association for Cultural Enrichment
at Rice, the Association of I-atin En-
gineers and Scientists and the Mexi-
can and I^tin-American Student
Association.
Representatives of the Northwest
Treeplanters and Farmworkers
United union encouraged students
to boycott NORPAC Foods, Inc., a
large provider of fruits and veg-
etables, at a meetingTuesday night.
Organized by Rice Students for
Global Justice, the meeting took
place in Kelley I>ounge of the Stu-
dent Center and featured Efrain
Pena, a union organizer and former
NORPAC farmworker, and Rebecca
Saldana, also associated with the
union.
The two are on a speaking tour
and came to Rice to describe the
working conditions of farmworkers.
Their goal was to gain support for a
boycottof NORPAC, a farmer-owned
cooperative in Oregon.
"We don't have the power to make
the growers really listen to the work-
ers except through the boycott,"
Saldana said. "That's why we're here
and not in the fields today."
Saldana began by describing
Northwest Treeplanters and
Farmworkers United and the ser-
vices it provides. The union was or-
ganized in 1985 with 80 workers and
now represents over 4,500
farmworkers in Oregon. "Our mis-
sion has been to empower and edu-
cate workers to improve their lives,"
Saldana said.
Pena talked about emigrating
from Mexico with his uncle in 1993
and working on several large farms
in Oregon. He described working
conditions at farms and labor
camps where many migrant work-
ers lived.
lWe don't have the
power to make the
growers really listen to
the workers except
through the boycott.'
— Rebecca Saldana
Union representative
Pena worked applying pesticides
to fields for four years and said his
training consisted of watching a
video explaining how to use safety
equipment. However, Pena said, the
video was in English even though
most of the farm workers in Oregon
speak only Spanish.
Pena also said his employer did
not provide him with the safety
equipment described in the video
and he had to buy his own mask and
filter. Other workers who didn't
have safety equipment often suf-
fered from allergies such as rashes
and watery eyes.
Pena tried to organize his co-
workers to demand better condi-
tions, but he couldn't convince
people to join him.
"Finally, the thing [my co-work-
ers] always told me was, 'We don't
want to get fired. It's not that we
don't want change. It's that if we
speak up, they will fire us,'" Pena
said.
His co-workers did encourage
him to continue demanding better
conditions because he could afford
to risk his job — he did not have a
family to worry about.
"That was the thing that pushed
me to do something — understand-
ing that my co-workers were think-
ing how to change but at the same
time that they can't act," Pena said.
In Pena's second year of farm
work, he met a union organizer in a
labor camp. "I was listening to him,
and that was really interesting to
know someone that was working to
change the conditions for farm work-
ers," Pena said.
The organizer provided him with
better training equipment and infor-
mation about pesticides. From the
organizer, Pena also learned about
the health risks, such as cancer, as-
sociated with pesticides. When Pena
asked how he could help change
conditions, the organizer told him
about the boycott on NORPAC prod-
ucts.
After Pena became involved in
union work to promote the boycott,
his employer retaliated by cutting
his hours and making him work for
piece rate instead of an hourly wage.
Soon, his employers began to iso-
late him from other workers to pre-
vent him from talking to them about
the union, Pena said. He was eventu-
ally fired in 1997.
Soon after, the Northwest
Treeplanters and Farmworkers
United union asked Pena to work as
an organizer for them. Now, Pena
travels to farms and tries to con-
vince workers of the need for a union
and collective bargaining.
"I go to the fields, talk to farm
workers and explain to them why it's
important to have a union, why it's
important to have collective bargain-
ing because that's the main thing,"
Pena said. "I'm asking the students
to help us with this boycott because
you guys have the power."
Aiter Pena spoke, Saldana ex-
plained how university students can
help the boycott. "What we're look-
ing for is for students to find out who
your food service provider is, ... to
work with them to find out where
your processed fruits and vegetables
come from," Saldana said.
"Depending on who your [food
service] company is, they're going
to have alternatives most likely be-
cause they're huge, but if not, then
you would say, 'Look, we want to
keep your contract, though we need
to find an alternative,"' Saldana said.
"If you find out that the only prod-
uct you're getting from NORPAC is
some green beans or some corn,
then maybe as a student body your
decision is that you're just not go-
ing to have that product on campus
because they can't find an alterna-
tive."
'I'm asking the students
to help us with this
boycott because you
guys have the power'
— Efrain Pena
Union representative
Pena and Saldana also distrib-
uted a petition against NORPAC.
Will Rice College junior Wally
Upp, who organized the meeting,
said he first became interested in
the union through his church in his
home state of Oregon. He spent time
with workers on Oregon farms last
summer.
"It was a real eye-opener for me
because we've all heard about sweat-
shop workers in other countries, but
it was shocking to find out it has
happened a half hour from my home
for generations," Upp said.
About 20 people attended the
meeting. Most attendees responded
favorably to the idea of a boycott.
"1 think it's great they're doing a
speaking tour, and I hope they get
lots of support across the country,"
Wiess College senior Miranda Sielaff
said. "Obviously, the boycott is a
huge part of their struggle."
Sid Richardson College junior
Gabe Rivera agreed. "I'm shocked
that these conditions still exist," he
said. "1 think it's great that unions
such as these are being organized
because that's the only way these
workers will be heard."
NORPAC sells some products
under its own name, but most are
repackaged under different corpo-
rations' names. The stamp code on
food packaging identifies its pro-
ducer. For products in bags,
NORPAC goods have a stamp code
beginning with a 5. For products in
cans, NORPAC goods have a stamp
code beginning with an 'E'.
ROB GADDI/TMRESHER
Rock and roll music
Edloe Street, wearing Martel College T-shirts, performed at the Martel TG Wednesday night. At the event, 300
shirts were given away as the members of the founding committee and the masters distributed pizza and
transfer applications.
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 10, 2000, newspaper, November 10, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth442991/m1/5/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.